New rules needed for class actions

David Greene, our Senior Partner and the founding Co-President of the Collective Redress Lawyers Association (CORLA) recently spoke to the Times about the need to simplify the system for group litigation and create effective mechanisms for collective redress.

Group litigation — allowing people who have suffered losses in a similar manner to pool their resources and go to court together — has theoretically been available in English common law for decades.

However, actions are expensive, rely on litigation funding companies and are cumbersome to manage without the help of technology — all points that a new group aims to address.

The move comes against the backdrop of a claim looming against Mastercard, which is being brought by Walter Merricks, the solicitor and former financial services ombudsman, and will be the first opt-out consumer class action to go to trial. Several other cases against rail companies, banks and technology giants, had been waiting in the wings until the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) certified Merricks’s case.

Since then, three other opt-out class actions worth billions have been given the go-ahead, and decisions and hearings are expected in applications relating to home insurance, user data, app stores and trucks…

Read the full article in The Times (subscription may be required)